It occured to me today that the current health care debate going on in this country (the US, just in case you didn't know), is eerily reminiscent of a Voyager episode called 'Critical Care'. In it the Doctor is captured and forced to work on a hospital ship, where he is restricted from treating certain patients based on a computer program that decided who could and could not receive medical care.

Now while political discussions aren't typical around here, I always thought that since Star Trek dared to ask these kind of charged questions that would start a debate (regardless of topic), we shouldn't fear the same.

Living in the US, and being inundated with rhetoric from both sides (I'm a conservative, just FYI), I see, read, and hear that our health care system in this country, if Obama has his way, will soon become a bureaucracy very similar to what's seen in that episode. See it and you'll know what I'm talking about.

The idea that the government could tell us what care we can and cannot have is scary. Or worse, them saying when I die. (If I'm lucky to get a few more decades out of life.) I see the mercilessness of it. Your medical and financial freedom, gone. Not for the faint of heart.

Well, this being such a debate, I'm sure that there are many opinions....

I listened to his proposal, speech, whatever, too. The impression I received was a bit different from yours. Isn't trying to make Medical Care accessible to ALL Americans? It seems, (yes, I did some research too!) that only certain individuals can be certain of the best care; i.e. the dollar.

Not that our system is in any way near half decent.

BTW.. YUCK!! fatcat politicians!!

No Government ever looked after the needs of one person, or the minority.

LOL NO politics allowed!Post Merge: 13 August 2009 06:39 AM Back to your original point; yes, it is quite scary to go experience instances where Star Trek in it's own inimical way, already showed us the perfect solution, albeit only for a few individuals.

I'm against it, as a diabetic and with the chance in the future I may need to go to the hospital on a second's notice I don't want my life being on the line in the hands of the government. Geez...it takes 2 months to get a refund from the IRS. It took 8 months to process my wife's papers the first time and 6 months the second time.

I would hate to disappoint, but Ami conservative values and Federation values do not and can not find harmony with each other, Star Treks take on the future is radical and calling it socialist is inaccurate since it is more modified Marxism.

Yours in Corrective Plasma,Star¤Dagger

Logged

Ahr'caehhere faell rhifv plicarate'dhohh kivoi eiheurrhelhai draes.

It is a rare event that a man should err due to restraint. -- Nnerhin tr'Liemha, "Discourse"

Well if you read that bill carefully, It even gives the government authority over how long you live, when and how you are going to die. It also gives the government the ability to go into your home and kill you if you live to be a unspecified age. It is something that should be tossed out in the garbage.

Oh, almost forgot.

Thay have cut the VA benifits this year. There was no cost of living increase, and now the government is wanting to shut down the VA Hospitals, trying to say that there purpose is no longer needed.

It would create a system for the thirty million Americans who have no access to health care. Our current system says that if you have a treatable condition but you don't have health insurance than you have to die or go into debt that you will never recover from. We have the best health care system in the world, but only for people who can afford it. People who can not afford it die from conditions that were cured a century ago.

You are trying to make an argument about a life or death decision based on a campy sci fi show, and that is so 'censored' disgusting.

You are trying to make an argument about a life or death decision based on a campy sci fi show, and that is so 'censored' disgusting.

So let me get this straight. You come onto a STAR TREK website, and insult the very reason for it's existence, not to mention it's fans by calling it 'campy'? That is what I find disgusting.

Your argument holds absolutely no water. First of all, all those uninsured that the left in the U.S. holds so dear COULD be covered if we spent what excess stimulus money we have on it. It wouldn't even require more legislation. Hell, most of those uninsured are either:

1) Young people who don't think they need it2) Those who can afford paying for it without a need for insurance, or3) Illegal aliens who try to leech off the system for free health care.

There isn't a hospital in the U.S. that would not treat someone who came into their ER with a life-threatening illness. They are required, by law, to treat them. As far as paying for the service goes, most hospitals will work with the patient on a payment plan, or even scale back the costs depending on the patient's ability to pay. NO ONE dies simply by their income bracket. However, if this current health care bill becomes law, then a government bureaucrat will get between you and your doctor, telling us what treatments we can or cannot have based on cost, or the age of the patient. These death panels effectively would legislate who would get medical care and who wouldn't based on age, income, profession, etc., just like in the aforementioned Trek episode. I suggest the next time you try to debate a topic on these forums, don't denigrate what you don't understand.